As army of ‘Agbado converts’ swells, By Fredrick Nwabufo
There is a new sheriff in town. One who is a stickler for excellence. One who sees, who listens, who superintends, who manages, and who executes. This sheriff does not take a nap on the shift. His judgment is swift; his decision measured and calculated; his process thorough, incisive, and decisive.
Napping federal government agencies are suddenly angling to outdo one another in a show of performance. It is the Tinubu effect; the wand waking up dead matter. With President Tinubu, it is no longer governance by body language, but governance by bold language. It is clear to all that the President has no stomach for incompetence, indolence, and indiscipline. It is either performance or the heave-ho.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu obviously has a different aspect; a diligent one, to leadership. He has demonstrated the possibilities of change. He has chiselled an arc of possibility over seeming impossibilities. He has shown with purposive leadership, mountains can be moved.
With diligent leadership, ye can say to that mountain, be moved; and it shall be moved.
And President Tinubu has just begun.
WHEN GOVERNANCE RUNS ON THE STIMULUS OF HOPE
President Tinubu earned the tag “Baba-go-fast” for the decisiveness, punctiliousness, diligence, and swiftness of his leadership.
“Hitting the ground running” has a walking and talking example in the President.
Upon assumption of office, he did the derring-do — axing petrol subsidy; averting a national strike and giving the naira the muscle to find its fortune in the agora of trade.
According to JP Morgan, a US financial services firm, the naira is expected to appreciate, and trade at N600 to the dollar over the coming months.
The firm said: “While it will take a few days for USD/NGN spot to settle, we fully expect an initial overshoot towards the parallel market rate of -750 or higher, after which, we expect USD/NGN to settle in the high 600s over [the] coming months.”
Bloomberg, an international news agency, reported that investors were excited about Nigeria owing to the president’s swift reforms. It also reported that Nigeria’s equity market witnessed a boom — a corollary of the incipient policies, signalling a return of confidence in the market.
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Reuters reported that investors were stunned by the quick reforms of the President. Reuters reports: “Nigeria’s new president, in office, for less than a month, is pushing to put Africa’s largest economy on a reform track that investors have eyed for decades, fuelling excitement that money could flow to the nation that many had deemed uninvestible.”
Governance is not rocket-science after all. It takes courage. Audacity. Diligence. Purpose. And forthrightness. Bold decisions take bold leadership.
The President has signed four seminal bills into law. The bill harmonising retirement age for judges and stipulating uniformity in pension rights for judicial officers; The Electricity Act which effectively decentralises power, empowering states, companies, and individuals to generate, transmit and distribute electricity; The Student Loan Act which allows students in tertiary institutions access to interest-free loans from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, and The Data Protection Law which protects the privacy and liberties of citizens.
The past 16 days have been motion. Movement. And acceleration. Good things happen when governance runs on the stimulus of hope.
RANK OF ‘AGBADO CONVERTS’ SWELLS
Good governance is contagious in its effect. It is enthralling. It soothes everyone — supporters and opposition alike. The best form of political proselytising is performance. The evidence of good governance is in the performance. Nigeria’s trajectory is obvious to everyone — an upward swing. Citizens did not have to wait to decrypt the direction of the government; they saw the course the leadership was charting from the very first day.
The government has, essentially, earned public trust and goodwill. And I believe it will keep it.
Today, ardent critics of the President have become his griots, singing his praises on the rooftops. It is good to see. Good governance does not discriminate. Soon more ‘’Agbado converts’’ from all sections of the country will join the bubbling line-up of ‘’Agbado exponents’’. Nigeria needs the rank of active citizens who supports the government but criticises it constructively where necessary. It will take the effort of all Nigerians to make Nigeria work. The leadership is already leading the way.
I had ‘’prophesied’’ in a previous column that a bountiful agbado season was upon us. And true to that prophecy, it has been a season of fetching expectations, giant leaps, and reforms.
A new beginning for Nigeria is here. A New Nigeria is emerging. I hear the joys of expectations from fellow citizens; I see the longing and desire for change. Our earnest prayers and wishes for a peaceful and progressive Nigeria will come fulfilled. To more of the governance by bold language.
By Fredrick Nwabufo, Nwabufo aka Mr OneNigeria is a media executive.
